World News Quick Take

AGENCIES

■FRANCE

Academics find mass graves

Archeologists have stumbled upon two mass graves dating back to the years of civil strife unleashed after the French Revolution of 1789, officials said on Monday. Located in a park in the city of Le Mans, the graves contain the bodies of some 30 people including several women, two male teenagers and a child, the INRA archeology institute said in a statement. All were identified as victims of a massacre that took place on Dec. 12 and Dec. 13, 1793, as republican forces repelled royalist Catholic rebels from Le Mans during the first War of the Vendee. The first grave contained nine or 10 bodies, some still wearing shirt buttons and boot buckles, or carrying knives, while the second, sealed shut with a thick layer of lime, contained some 20 bodies. Between 1793 and 1796, the fervently Catholic Vendee region was rocked by a drawn-out insurrection aimed at reversing the French Revolution.

■IRAN

Saberi’s parents depart

The father of imprisoned Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi said he and his wife were going to the Islamic Republic this week to see his daughter and speed up her release. Reza Saberi said he and his wife, Akiko, would leave their home in Fargo on Monday afternoon and hope to be in Tehran by today. Reza Saberi said he has been hearing word that officials were going to “speed up the process” of releasing his daughter, but he said “there’s still some work to do.” The government has said Roxana Saberi was arrested for doing reporting work in the country after her press credentials expired.

■QATAR

Arab summit backs Bashir

An Arab Summit voiced support for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday, rejecting an international arrest warrant issued against him for alleged war crimes in Darfur. “We reiterate our solidarity with Sudan and our rejection of the measure of the ... International Criminal Court against his Excellency [Bashir],” a final statement read at the summit in Doha said.

■GERMANY

Rightist youth group banned

The government banned an extremist right-wing youth group yesterday and conducted searches of property used by its leaders, the interior ministry said. A statement said the group, True Homeland German Youth, propagated racism and Nazi ideology. The ministry said the group organized holiday activities for children and young people where Nazi views were presented in the guise of non-political events.

The group schooled pre-teen children in “racial studies” and emphasized the need for “purity of blood” and the “procreation of the German race,” the ministry said. It also classed foreigners and Jews as a threat to the German race, the ministry statement said.

■UNITED STATES

Fifteen hospital workers fired

Fifteen hospital workers have been fired and another eight disciplined for looking at medical records of octuplet mother Nadya Suleman without permission, hospital officials said. Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center reported the violations of healthcare privacy laws to the state and has warned employees to keep away from Suleman’s records unless they have a medical purpose, hospital spokesman Jim Anderson said on Monday. “Despite the notoriety of this case, to us, this person is a patient who deserves the privacy that all our patients get,” Anderson said. He said Kaiser does not believe any of Suleman’s information was shared with the media, based on the results of their inquiry.